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Try a hair brush for the debris, A bondo spreader (body filler) will do a decent job on straightening the fins, without any danger of piercing the coolant tubes.
That being said, making your radiator work better could actually reduce your mileage in cold weather. If you do not climb mountains or haul heavy loads, both of which will test the capacity of your radiator then you might just leave it alone.
Most radiators are getting tired at 10 years age, so consider that and price a new one if it is older than a decade. The tubes slowly clog up with gunk, just like some people's hearts and the max capacity to remove heat slowly declines. As you get close to the end of the life of the radiator the coolant coming out in the bottom hose becomes progressively more hot, until you reach the point where it can no longer keep your engine cool enough. The period of time just before failure can actually increase your fuel mileage.
Why?
Coolant exiting the radiator enters the running engine. The colder that coolant (new radiator versus old radiator) the more heat that same coolant will absorb from your engine. In some cases the difference can be 60+ degrees. Less heat removed from the engine means less heat lost from the fuel and more heat available for useful work.
Especially in winter.
regards
Mech
Last edited by user removed; 11-23-2011 at 01:34 PM..
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